Keaton is a yes: the biggest movie ever when released, and his juice got Pacific Heights made.
A joke asks whether Damon Wayans understood Apex Mountain.
Pacific Heights is defended as great, prompting a joke to schedule it.
Basinger could be argued yes given her fame and coming Alec Baldwin romance, but L.A. Confidential is offered instead; she worked little after it.
Nicholson is a no; his apex is elsewhere.
Peters and Guber are a yes, since this success helped them take over Sony before it fell apart.
The Knox actor gets an “absolutely”, but it is immediately deferred to Arli$$ as his apex.
For Burton, this film is possible but Batman Returns is preferred as the better movie he fully controlled; it has great performances throughout, with no bad Palance turn. — Sean Fennessey
For Batman movies, the answer is no: The Dark Knight.
Pierce Brosnan reportedly met Burton but did not want to play a comic-book hero.
Bill Murray, with Ivan Reitman directing, was earlier buzz that Peters favored for years; the hosts are glad it did not happen. An Eddie Murphy as Robin rumor is doubted.
Damon Wayans, met by chance, reportedly denied the research claim that he and Bruce Willis feuded on The Last Boy Scout, illustrating the unreliability of casting research.
Nicholson was reportedly the studio’s top Joker choice since 1980, and Willem Dafoe reportedly stated in 2009 he had been in talks.
Robin Williams was reportedly offered the Joker to pressure Nicholson, released once Nicholson agreed, and then refused Warner roles such as the Riddler without an apology; the apology detail is doubted.
Dead Poets Society was 1989’s third-biggest film; swapping Nicholson and Williams would make both films worse, and “he stole my balloons” is called a favorite line.
Nicholson’s reported conditions included top billing, a share of earnings including merchandise, capped work hours, and no work on Lakers home playoff games; his fee dropped from $11 million to $6 million, but he may have made $90 million.
Martin Landau reportedly turned down Carl Grissom for Crimes and Misdemeanors, and Jack Palance in that role is imagined as bad.
Sean Young was cast as Vicki Vale and replaced after a horse-riding injury; the Knox actor later claimed she sabotaged a read-through, which is doubted. Her Catwoman costume audition for Batman Returns is recalled.
The Knox actor also claimed Keaton blocked Peters’ choice of Michelle Pfeiffer because they had dated, which is doubted since she is in the sequel.
Adam West was publicly disappointed not to be asked to reprise Batman.
Willis is incredible, but the pick is Damon Wayans for a dynamite movie-star performance he never got the chance to repeat.
The pick is agreed with: multiple people could have played the Bruce Willis role, including Don Johnson, but nobody else in 1991 could have been Jimmy Dix (Eddie too old, Denzel too established, Wesley Snipes weird, Jamie Fox too early).
It was right time, right place for Wayans, who is likable, and it is a bummer he never got better scripts.
Tony Scott was considered but rejected because this is not seen as a signature Tony Scott movie and it sounds agonizing to make.
In a book about cocaine-era late 80s and 90s movies, this would be a chapter.
The scene is set at halftime of a Cleveland versus Los Angeles game with Vern Lundquist, Dick Buckkiss and Lynn Swan as sideline reporter, who berates the L.A. owner about ratings, attendance and where all the heroes have gone.
The hosts want sideline reporters to ask NBA players like Brandon Ingram and LeBron James where all the heroes have gone.
Billy Cole is alleged to take PCP in the locker room, though one host always thought it was cocaine until reading Wikipedia.
Early nits: whether he had the gun in his pants the whole quarter, how it did not affect his burst while breaking four tackles, and whether his touchdown would count for gamblers.
He says 'Ain't life a bitch' as he shoots himself, and the broadcast presumably cuts to a test signal.
Only one spotlight seems to be on in Cleveland Stadium, like a German expressionist film; Tony Scott's football is closer to Zach Snyder's 300 and the rain device returns in The Fan.
The scene was a watershed; the movie arguably peaks in the first six minutes, helped by the Bill Medley Friday Night Football song.
Other rewatchable scenes offered: Joe finding the guy in the closet, which leads to the first of several car bombs.
Jimmy's speech on the NFL stance on drugs and gambling, played back by Craig, reads like Shane Black at 3:30 in the morning.
Joe versus Kim Coats, where Joe warns him not to touch him again and then kills him.
The quirky hitmen, like Pablo playing piano and Taylor Negron, feel Tarantino-like before Tarantino made a movie.
The stuffed-animal scene with the car chase, despite not knowing how the gun fits in the stuffed animal.
The big football-game ending: a throw from a wounded hand to the senator's box, Damon Wayans on a horse, and Bruce Willis's fight with Taylor Negron ending in a jig.
The Hollywood Hills car chase with cars going down the hill that lands in the pool.
The strip club with Corey and the Corey car-chase murder right after it are offered as another rewatchable scene; the other side left it out because seeing Halle Berry murdered hurts, wishing she had just taken one in the shoulder.
Asked for a most rewatchable pick, the answer is the opening scene, watchable a hundred times in a row; it is jokingly why football had to leave L.A.
